Mounties Raid SNC-Lavalin Offices Again

SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. said Friday the Royal Canadian Mounted Police executed a search warrant of its Montreal offices.

Christinne Muschi/Reuters

A Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer looks at a receptionist at the headquarters of SNC Lavalin in Montreal April 13, 2012.

The Canadian engineering giant said in a statement the warrant “relates to an investigation of certain individuals who are not or are no longer employed by the Company.” It said the company is cooperating with all of the investigations against it but because the matter is ongoing, it could not comment on specifics.

“The process is going fairly well, in a very collaborative spirit, in an effort to resolve the situation as soon as possible,” said Leslie Quinton, a company spokeswoman, in an email.

SNC-Lavalin is the subject of scrutiny in several matters, nor is it the first time the RCMP raided the company’s offices.

A unit of the firm was temporarily suspended last week by the World Bank from bidding on new contracts as it investigates the company’s work on Padma Bridge, a World Bank-funded project in Bangladesh. SNC-Lavalin’s offices outside Toronto were raided in September 2011 by the RCMP as part of the Padma Bridge probe.

A call on Friday to the RCMP seeking comment was not immediately returned.

UPDATE: Sgt. Mark Menard confirmed the RCMP is executing a search warrant at the SNC-Lavalin offices in Montreal but declined to answer any further questions, citing the ongoing investigation.

Last month, the company’s chief executive stepped down after an internal probe found he breached company policies by approving $56 million in payments that it said were inappropriate. SNC-Lavalin has also been under scrutiny for its business in Libya with the ousted regime of ex-leader Moammar Gadhafi.

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